's filtration processes. the most recent presidential election in the united states. there was something, if you went through the republican primaries, that people were saying, well, it's not this person. it's not -- tim drops out after the iowa caucuses and michele bachmann, and newt gingrich, and you're left with a last person standing. most often, it's not about picking a winner, but it's about picking losers. this is not the person. this is not the person, and finally, you get a last person standing. >> host: process of elimination. >> guest: exactly. >> host: which is consistent in whatever organization it is? >> guest: so -- >> host: has to be? >> guest: i think it is in the sense that it's a platonic idea, a simp fied # version of reality that i think you use to build theory. start with simple and make them more complex, but if you take, say, ge. so ge is famous for the way it chooses leaders. ge, we always tell students ge is a company that works in practice, but not in theory. it doesn't seem to do anything of the things we say it should do, but it's incredibly profit l and successful.
